The Water Cooler ~ Obama’s Syria Stategy: Forward, I Mean About Face

The president just announced that he will now get authorization from Congress for the limited military operation he was about to commence in Syria. This about-face is shocking and I can’t imagine what the implications are for our allies and enemies.

Personally, I thought he, Biden and Kerry were the biggest hypocrites for wanting to act alone and without Congressional approval, after they bashed Bush constantly, including the threat of starting impeachment proceedings.

This is the right move but the wrong time. Obama should have requested authorization a year ago after his red-line statement. Now he looks so weak and is hurting our reputation.

The only explanation is he is governing by the polls; not by moral authority as he claimed for the reason he must act, even alone if need be because America won’t stand for chemical weapons being used on anyone.

He has dawdled for days, told Syria the extent of our operation, and now he calls it off for weeks or a month?

Congress is due back on Spet. 9th and of course he’ll be at the G20 Summit in Russia next week. To me, he is not willing to be responsible for his actions as Commander in Chief- he wants to spread the blame or have a reason to back out of his threat if Congress votes down the operation which is highly likely.

This is amateur hour from this president and sets a very dangerous precedent for our country and its reputation as a super-power. Of course, his only foreign policy doctrine, if he has one, has been to diminish our world standing; so was this his plan all along?

Let’s face it, he blinked on a national security issue that was imperative yesterday. We may never know his reason for doing this about-face on Syria, but forward thinking he is not.